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New to this industry and am trying to decide bewteen Morgan Stanley's WAA program and the FAA program. I have been told the WAA adds one year on the front end doing financial planning for teams and accounts. Is it worth it?

I would appreciate any input on this from individuals who have gone through either program or know the pros/cons of each.

IMO the WAA program is the best training on the street. Gets you in the office for a significant time before you even need to produce, teaches you the ins and outs of creating a financial plan, you work directly with advisors and their clients, which also helps you find advisors you may potentialyl want to partner with or groups you want to join. You also have 6 months of production before you’re held to the clock, which is a HUUGE head start over the guys going regular FAA.

This is coming from a guy who didn’t do WAA, but it’s a great win win situation for everyone. Only con of the program IMO is that you have to wait a bit before you can start producing.

I am currently in the last few months of the WAA program. I would highly recommend starting from there. It is very difficult to meet the FA thresholds and this program provides a great unique opportunity to start building up business before you are under the pressure of hitting certain numbers. Also, for the first few months your sole responsibility is to come into work to study for the 7 and 66. The fact that you are getting paid to come into work just to study for tests you need to take anyway can’t be beat. Another great thing is there is a lot you learn from doing the WAA program that will help you when you become an FAA and will give you an advantage when you start prospecting.

So if you have a choice then you should 100% start as a WAA, there is literally 0 downside!